Today’s Editorial March 20: RCIPS needs some help

Based on reports coming from the public, the RCIPS appears to have completely bungled the initial handling of the Sabrina Schirn case.

It seems when Sabrina disappeared last week, the police were more concerned about finding her so they could arrest her than they were about her safety. This is in spite of the fact that a man had reportedly come to her place of work less than a week prior and threatened her with a crowbar.

Sabrina’s mother and her boss where she worked say police didn’t seem to take the young woman’s disappearance seriously at first. When family members began trying to find Sabrina themselves the day after she disappeared and began distributing missing person flyers, the police inspector in charge reportedly chastised the mother for the family’s efforts.

When the car Sabrina took from a colleague on Wednesday was spotted by a member of the public in a remote part of East End five days later, police swarmed to the scene and searched the general area. They didn’t find Sabrina, but said they would come back to the area the next day. However, the next day, at least six people in the vicinity where the car was found reported they saw no police around.

Later, a search party that included three of Sabrina’s siblings found the young woman’s decomposing body. Suddenly the police inspector in charge of the case was applauding the efforts of the family.

The police said they were in the area at the time the body was found, but reportedly it took them 15 minutes to arrive at the scene once the finding of Sabrina’s body was reported.

The following day, the RCIPS called a press conference and issued a statement saying they could not confirm any cause of Sabrina’s death, but that a murder enquiry was under way and that they would do everything they could to bring her killer or killers to justice.

The police didn’t mention whether they had any leads in their investigation. However, Sabrina’s mother believes there was a strong connection to her death and the threat she received five days prior to her disappearance.

There is already a general lack of confidence in the police force because of the lengthy and expensive investigation of the Metropolitan Police, which has included a bungled arrest of a Grand Court judge, and the fact that the force is losing officers at an alarming rate.

We can only hope the RCIPS can shake off the terrible start to this case and redeem itself by bringing Sabrina’s killer or killers to swift justice. We implore the public to give them all the help they need.

BREAKOUT

We can only hope the RCIPS can shake off the terrible start to this case and redeem itself by bringing Sabrina’s killer or killers to swift justice.